Cup Experience News | Kiwis Going “OK” | Building an Island | Oracle’s Race Boat in Bermuda | more…

By on October 11th, 2016

Cup Experience News | Kiwis Going "OK" | Building an Island | Oracle's Race Boat in Bermuda | more...

Cup Experience News

Issue 36 | Tuesday 11 October 2016

In this issue:

  • Team New Zealand: "We're going OK."
  • Building an Island in Bermuda
  • Oracle's Race Boat Arrived in Bermuda
  • Moving to Fukuoka
  • Ask Jack: Why does a grinder's core body temperature matter?
  • "We're Going OK"

Emirates Team New Zealand skipper Glenn Ashby's dry sense of humour is on display in his final comment in this video of the team training in the Southern Hemisphere winter. Just after the Kiwis show a foiling tack, Ashby tells us, "We're going OK." Click the photo to play the video.

Image: ETNZ Video

  • Building an Island in Bermuda

Click the photo to see a one minute time lapse video showing a year's work on the infill project to build Cross Island, the site of the America's Cup Village. The infill was completed on budget and ahead of schedule. In the next phase of work utilities will be installed - water, sewage, electricity, communications - so the space can be turned over to ACEA. Thanks to Scott Stallard for the photo.

  • Oracle's Race Boat Arrives in Bermuda

The America's Cup Class yacht that Oracle will race in the America's Cup Match next year has arrived in Bermuda. The team will now assemble the hulls, crossbeams and pod, which were built in New Zealand. Electronics, hydraulics, winch systems and other equipment will be installed. The boat may not be launched before 27 December, 150 days before the first race of the America's Cup Qualifiers. Click the photo to see the boat being constructed and to hear General Manager Grant Simmer talk about the process.

Image: OTUSA Video

  • Moving to Fukuoka

The final stop for the AC World Series is Fukuoka, Japan. Fifty containers are on their way from Toulon.

Image: ACEA Video

Racing is scheduled for 19-20 November. From the leaderboard below, you can see that Land Rover BAR's 14 point lead will make them hard to catch. Winning the AC World Series would give them two bonus points in next year's round robin America's Cup Qualifiers. Oracle Team USA and Emirates Team New Zealand will be fighting for the bonus point that goes to the runner up. Oracle has yet to win a World Series regatta; this is their last chance. SoftBank Team Japan and Artemis Racing will be battling for fourth place. Since the AC World Series results will be used to break ties in the Qualifiers, every place counts, and these teams will be fighting hard. Groupama Team France looks unlikely to escape the cellar - they will have to count on a good performance in the Qualifiers to avoid elimination.

Join the Conversation on the Cup Experience Facebook Group.

  • Reader Questions to "Ask Jack"
  • from Dennis in California
  • ask jack!
  • Hi Jack. You wrote last week that when a grinder's core body temperature goes up, his power output goes down. Why is that?
  • Hi Dennis, Power from the grinders will be one of the keys to winning in the new AC Class yachts. "It turns out that an enzyme called MPK that muscles need in order to generate chemical energy, is highly temperature- sensitive. At normal body temperature, the enzyme is active – but as temperatures rise, some of the enzyme begins to deform into its inactive state. By the time muscle temperatures near 104 degrees Fahrenheit, MPK activity completely shuts down.

    There’s a very good biological reason for this shutdown. As a muscle cell increases its activity, it heats up. But if this process continues for too long, the cell will self-destruct. By shutting itself down below a critical temperature threshold, MPK serves as an elegant self-regulation system for the muscle." (From an article in Stanford News by Max McClure.)

America's Cup Guide